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Goldman Sachs is reported to have charged "almost no commission" on a $2.1bn (â¬1.7bn) sale of Google shares which secured the US bank its number one position in first-quarter league tables for equity capital markets. A typical fee on that size of deal would be $80m.

Bloomberg reports, citing regulatory filings, that Google paid Goldman $1m, or 0.05% of the value of the 5.3 million shares sold.

According to the news agency, banks charge average commission of 3.8%. On a $2.1bn deal that would be equal to almost $80m.

The deal, arranged on March 31, pushed Goldman ahead of Citigroup as the top US equities capital markets bank in first quarter rankings provided by Dealogic, the investment banking data provider. Just $1.1bn of deal value separated the two.

Goldman arranged 14 US ECM deals worth a combined $7.3bn in the first quarter ahead of second place Citigroup which worked on 27 deals worth $6.2bn.

Goldman missed out on a lead underwriter mandate on Google's initial public offering two years ago after the bank's chief executive Hank Paulson reportedly angered Google's management by making a direct approach to a major Google shareholder while the search engine company was choosing underwriters.

Goldman was co-manager on a €240m sale of Fiat shares in January on behalf of Italian bank, Monte dei Paschi di Siena.

According to Bloomberg, Goldman and JP Morgan bought the Fiat shares from Monte dei Paschi for €8.249 and sold it to fund manager for €8.25 a share netting about $0.001 a share profit, equivalent to a 0.01% commission.

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Gianluca Baldassarri, head of finance at Monte dei Paschi di Siena, told the agency: "The price they offered was a positive surprise. Banks are very keen on league-table rankings, which they use to win more profitable business.'